The Apology
by FictionerMcGee
Summary: It has been a couple months after the defeat of Kai, but Po is having trouble. He has been training hard with his newfound chi powers in order to better understand it, and does not go unnoticed by Tigress. When an unusually timed sparring match goes horribly wrong, damaging the panda's fragile relationship with her, he must find a way to make amends before it is lost for good. TiPo
1. Chapter 1

The Apology

 **DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN KFP**

 **(I am just doing this to pass the time and am unsure whether or not I shall be continuing to upload fanfics at a frequent pace or whenever the mood strikes me.)**

* * *

It was midnight. The moon shone brightly even though it was moderately obscured by dark grey clouds and settled its serene light upon a cliff with a peach tree, where a lone figure stood with her crimson-red eyes and a stiff posture overlooking the mountains and dense fog that were adjacent to the Valley of Peace.

Tigress.

She tried to suppress the growl that was gradually rising from deep within her throat to no avail, but at least managed to retract her claws back into their respective sockets as she thought about the events that happened prior to her humiliation.

 _"Alright Stripes, I'm ready whenever you are," taunted Po as he got into a basic defense stance with a slight gleam of enthusiasm and challenge in his eyes. It had been an unusually long time since Tigress had decided to spar with him. It was noon, as the sun was at its highest peak and Crane, Mantis, Monkey, and Viper were secretly betting between the two opponents that were calmly sizing each other up, mentally trying to expose a weakness from the other and utilize it to their own advantage._

 _The air was still in the Jade Palace courtyard and even the nearby trees' leaves seemed to have held their breaths, anticipating the coming action between the warriors standing five feet away from each other._

 _Tigress didn't respond to Po's childish attempts to rile her emotions and merely popped both sides of her neck, simply standing there with her arms crossed._

 _She had learned the hard way after the said panda (euphemistically of course), indirectly killed the murderous peacock Shen with his own weapon of destruction._ _The irony wasn't lost that day either._

 _Whenever Tigress would launch an aggressive assault on the panda's face (or tenders), or seemed to have the intent of hurting him more than usual in a sparring match, the Dragon Warrior would instantly activate his "Inner Peace Mode" as he oh-so-famously called it._

 _This resulted in every punch, kick, headbutt, and practically every Kung Fu maneuver Tigress would throw at him to be frustratingly blocked or deflected as if she were a mere child play-fighting against her peers until Po decided to pin her to the ground while she was tired, or Tigress would pass out in exhaustion due to her overwhelmingly large pride as she was never the type of feline to call it quits._

 _This time however, Tigress waited on "THE Big Fat Panda" to let his impatience get the better of him and for him to strike first._

 _It had been several months after the defeat of Kai in which Po was still tampering and experimenting with his newfound powers to harness chi._

 _Knowing this, Tigress had refrained from sparring with Po in order to allow him to better understand the nature of his potential. In her mind, she had also predicted that his Inner Peace Mode would slowly deteriorate from lack of practice and was to be proven true at the upcoming match._

 _Both masters were waiting for the other to send an attack first but this time, Tigress managed to hold her casual stance._

 _She even raised an eyebrow mockingly at the panda with the slightest hint of a smirk on her face, as if her sudden lack of aggression was as usual as the day and night._

 _Po didn't need anymore incentives and initiated the fight with a simple yet unexpected double leg sweep causing Tigress, who at that point was prepared for a strong upfront elbow to the jaw, to nearly fall face-first into the ground but managed to catch herself and backwards somersault until she was a safe distance away from the Dragon Warrior._

 _The smug grin on his face was misinterpreted as a victorious smile by the four spectators but did not go unseen by the feline that was now glaring at him._

 _"He'll get what's coming to him one way or another..." mused Tigress. She lunged at Po with a vicious palm-strike only to have it dodged narrowly and for the panda to retaliate with a roundhouse kick followed by a series of quick jabs._

 _Fortunately, Tigress managed to catch or block most of his assault and only got hit on her shoulder, leaving it with a slight feeling of pain and numbness._

 _Little did she know that her nuisance shoulder would eventually lead to her downfall._

 _Both fighters were a fair fifteen feet apart and slowly circling one another trying to plan their next maneuver._

 _As Po's gentle, yet playful eyes glanced at his opponent's determined and calculating stare, he came to a conclusion._

 _"I'd better end this sparring session as fast, safe, and of course the most AWESOMELY BODACIOUS way possible... With my just-as-awesome Inner Peace Mode! Even though I haven't done anything to annoy Tigress for the past four days, something seems to be slightly off... There's no way Tigress would refuse to spar with me for an extended duration of time and then just challenge me out-of-the-blue while we are eating lunch. She also could have easily landed a couple punches of her own while we were in the heat of the moment, but she strangely didn't. I just know that Stripes is planning something..."_

 _The Dragon Warrior suddenly stopped his brisk pace while circling Tigress, causing her to pause in a pretend state of confusion._

 _Po's nose lightly twitched in an adorable fashion as he prepared to perform the motions for inner peace._

 _Truthfully, Tigress had hoped that the panda would realize her odd behavior and would try to turn their match into a one-sided spar with his Inner Peace technique, but she recently discovered a minuscule opening in his stance just barely big enough for her to break through and finally win against the panda._

 _She had also made sure to enlarge her chances as much a possible by tiring him out as much as possible before initiating the stance._

 _Tigress thought her attempts were successful as she felt the speed behind his jabs and the unnecessary strength of the roundhouse kick that she blocked._

 _As Po closed his eyes to concentrate on channeling his Inner Peace Mode,_ _Tigress stood there with her paws loosely curled into fists._

 _The four spectators were puzzled as to why Tigress was seemingly immobile. It was as if she was admitting defeat, which was highly unusual. They grumbled as money and almond cookies were being exchanged as they all agreed the matched had already been settled, but still stayed to watch the end of the match._

 _Tigress paid no attention to her friends and concentrated on watching Po's expanding and deflating belly as he performed the movements for Inner Peace. Comically enough, that panda's stomach was the key to setting off her entire plan to beat the panda in a sparring match._

 _Tigress noticed periodically that whenever Po would exhale for the third time, his sense of focus would be completely fixated on himself, no matter what distractions occurred._

 _Launching attacks when he least expected it was considered slightly dishonorable in Tigress's mind, but she convinced herself otherwise._

 _"This is your one shot to beat him Tigress. All those weeks of struggling to not sock him in the face, tripling your efforts in the training hall and spending even more time punching Ironwood trees led to this moment. I WILL NOT butcher this opportunity, much less let it go to waste."_

 _*Inhale*_

 _*Exhale*_

 _*Inhale*_

 _*Exhale*_

 _*Inhale*_

 _*Ex-*_

 _And that's when it happened._

 _As Po was halfway through his movements, he felt an unexpected pain in his gut and gasped sharply only to be sent backward gracelessly with a grueling combination of advanced Kung Fu techniques only a master would know._

 _As Po groaned, opening his eyes while laying with his back on the hard stone, he noticed that Tigress was advancing towards him._

 _Tigress was pleased that her plan worked so well in her favor, but didn't reveal any emotions across her face._

 _She still had to finish the match._

 _Po noticed her afterward and quickly sat up to talk his way out of his dire situation or at least beg her not to knock his lights out._

 _The Five (excluding Tigress), were shocked at the turn of events and reluctantly exchanged their betting items once more._

 _The feline paid them no attention as she sprinted towards the panda's pleading face with a double palm strike, ready to conclude the match. Po, having realized the destination of Tigress's pent-up fury, quickly brought up his paws with his pads facing outwards to shield himself._

 _He knew neglecting his Inner Peace Mode while trying to perfect his power to harness Chi was a rookie mistake and was about to pay the price dearly with an embarrassing launch out of the courtyard and into the Valley below._

 _Tigress savored this moment, from the excited look on her spectators' faces to Po cringing and trying to use his paws as cover._

 _And that's when everything went downhill._

 _The Dragon Warrior (due to force of habit), unconsciously used his chi powers and a burst of golden light emitted from his palms similar to the Thundering Wind Hammer and headed straight for the tiger that was still in mid-flight from the supposed "concluding strike"._

 _Since Po wasn't looking where his chi attack was going and Tigress could not stop her double palm strike, a blast of chi hit her square in her weakened shoulder._

 _Normally, she would have been able to hold her ground but due to the receiving shoulder already feeling weakened and numb, Tigress was sent flying out of the courtyard similar to Po on his second day at the Jade Palace and gasped in pain from every single step she managed to unfortunately bounce off of._

 _Unlike Po, who took pride in these circumstances and was accustomed to tripping down them almost every day, Tigress did not have his fa-... or erm... "padding" and was reduced to closing her eyes and wishing it all ended soon._

 _Once she came to a stop at the foot of the stairs (which proudly possessed one thousand steps on them), the feline felt immense pain on her limbs and blacked out just before seeing her friends' worried faces and Po's guilty one._

 _The day after, Tigress had woken up in a bed at the local infirmary down at the Valley of Peace and was greeted by Grandmaster Shifu (A.K.A her adoptive father), who explained her the extent of her injuries._

 _She had broken a wrist and an ankle and her bad shoulder was dislocated for quite some time until Mantis, master of Kung Fu, amateur acupuncture practitioner, and slightly professional doctor, set it back in place._

 _She was ordered by Shifu to remain there until she was well enough for training, which took a decent amount of expressing authority, cajoling, and straight-up threats in which left the crippled feline crestfallen._

 _The rest of the members of the five would occasionally visit her from time to time, but whenever Po came in her room he would quickly leave with multiple bruises and a steady stream of curses trailing after him._

 _Inwardly, the panda knew that he deserved it, but had faith that his best friend (and secret crush since forever), would eventually forgive him. That day has still yet to come and Po was slowly losing hope for the situation._

 _After a month of rest and recuperation, Tigress was cleared to leave the infirmary and at midnight went towards the Sacred Peach Tree to meditate, hence her current situation._

She was remorseful. So remorseful it was bothering her. Bothering her so much that meditation wasn't working and the striped feline was pacing back and forth between the peach tree and the cliff with much agitation.

She had felt guilty when remembering all the times Po tried to approach her while she lay in bed and only to be met with words and actions she wished she could have traveled back in time to take back.

Tigress decided to do the next best thing; she was going to apologize to Po.

But how?

That was was source of her problems. How could she, a great master of Tiger Style, mutual leader of the Furious Five, the feline with stone hard fists and an even harder heart, apologize to someone who was gentle, carefree, and the one whom she had wronged so unfairly ever since the first day he arrived at the Jade Palace?

At this point, Tigress was fuming.

She had stopped pacing and just stood there at the edge of the cliff. Her breaths were coming in short pants, claws desperately needing to sink into someone's neck, and crimson red pupils that turned into narrow slits.

She was about to roar in frustration of her inner imbalance to the sky and anyone within a mile radius from her when she heard the voice she dreaded to hear the most.

"Uhmmm, Tigress?"

 _Fifty minutes prior, Po too was pacing in circles in his room at the student barracks. He knew he had to find a way to make amends with Tigress after "the incident" before things got out of hand and he ended up losing her forever as a companion and best friend._

 _Out of ideas, Po went to Viper, Tigress's closest friend besides himself and quietly knocked on her paper door thrice._

 _Oddly enough, there was a faint glowing outlining her room as if she was staying up late, which she rarely did. "Hang on, I've gotta- *loud shuffling could be heard from inside her room*... Ok, annnnnnnnnd... done._

 _The door was opened softly and Viper was surprised at her late-night visitor._

 _"Po?"_

 _"Viper, can we please talk in private? It's... about me and Tigress. Can I come in?"_

 _"Sure, but what exactly do you need to talk about that can't wait in the morning?"_

 _As Po entered Viper's room he noticed there was a small candle burning in the center with the end of a poorly concealed scroll lying underneath her bed mat._

 _She shut the door discreetly, but not before peeking out to look if there were any eavesdroppers, in which she only heard the soft snores and breaths coming from her sleeping roommates. Viper turned around and glanced inquiringly at the suddenly nervous Dragon Warrior that was slowly tapping his fingers together._

 _"Po,"_ _Viper stated,_ _"if you're gonna just keep me waiting, I have better things to do."_

 _Po looked at the ceiling for a while then finally let out a defeated sigh._

 _"_ _I really need to apologize to Tigress about my clumsy mishap at the courtyard and was hoping that you would know what to do in these situations. I've been thinking f_ _or a while, but I'm pretty sure most of my plans will end with my premature death..."_

 _As Viper continued to listen to Po ramble on about the details of his suicidal attempts to get Tigress to forgive him, the gears in her head were on hyper-drive and she suddenly asked,_

 _"Do you love her?"_

 _Po stopped mid-sentence with his mouth hanging open as Viper stared coolly back with a look of extreme seriousness that could even rival a certain feline._

 _Po, not realizing that everyone in the Jade Palace already knew about his supposed "secret" crush on the hard-core tiger master besides the said feline and Shifu, decided to play dumb._

 _"What? Me? Pfffft, nah. There's no way that I have a crush on Tigress. Besides, even if I did theoretically have one on that person-in-question it's impossible for her to like me back. She and I are total opposites anyways. I like to think of myself as the more relaxed, friendly, go-with-the-flow kind of guy while Tigress is-"_

 _"Intelligent, beautiful, strong, coordinated, and just waiting for a male like yourself to whisk her off her feet and carry her towards the sunset of love and passion while she's still in the prime of her life?" Viper interrupted tactfully._

 _Her saying that caused the giant panda to blush furiously and for him to mutter incomprehensible nonsense until Viper redirected the subject towards her original question._

 _"So, Po," she began, "I will ask this again. And don't make me have to force you to tell me the truth. Do you genuinely love her?"_

 _Po's shoulders dropped and he looked at the floor this time instead of at Viper's azure-blue eyes._

 _He remembered a time when he was ten, and he was telling his dad, Mr. Ping, the goose, and owner of a popular noodle shop, about his feelings of his favorite member of the Furious Five only to be cut off with a light chuckle and the response he'll never forget._

 _"Oh son, this is just a phase you're experiencing; you'll get over it soon enough, trust me..."_

 _But Po never did._

 _Whenever Tigress showed up at the village for some errands, Po would always run out from the shop to sneak glances at her and maybe if he was lucky, watch her defeat bandits with ease as her Kung Fu skills were like none other._

 _Even though he admired her greatly, he was always too shy to approach the feline as he never was the type of guy that could easily win girls over with his appearance. He still had the same doubts from when he was ten to his current age about Tigress._

 _Current Po mumbled quite pathetically, "yeaiguessyoucansaythati'vehadacrushontigresseversinceifirstlaideyesonher."_

 _Viper was not amused by his confession and snapped (with as loud as a whisper as she would risk without waking everyone up),_

 _"There's no shame in loving someone else unless you think you're soooooo high above them all because you are the 'Legendary Dragon Warrior' and that you just can't bear to admit it!"_

 _Po looked up at Viper with shock and slight hurt in his gaze. Viper said more sympathetically, "Come on, just say it. I need to hear it before I give you my advice on patching things up with Tigress."_

 _Po sighed once more but complied with Viper's request._

 _"I... I lo-... That is.. I'm in-"_

 _"Just spit it out!"_

 _"I'M IN LOVE WITH TIGRESS!"_

 _Po put his paws over his mouth quickly and both him and Viper listened for movement from their friends signaling that they were awake._

 _Fortunately, none did._

 _Both masters let out a sigh of relief and Viper smiled widely at Po._

 _"There we go. Was that so hard?"_

 _Po grinned back and replied, "Now can you help me?"_

 _"You'll be pleased to know that Tigress has fallen for you as well."_

 _"Really?! Since when?"_

 _"I believe she has had feelings for you for a long time, but she came to tell me just after we arrived home after the whole 'psychotic peacock' ordeal."_

 _"Heheh, I can't believe this. Now all I have to do is fix things with Tigress first, then confess my love to her, and after that, I'll be the luckiest panda alive!"_

 _"Right... about that. I need you come closer Po. What I'm about to tell you must NOT be heard by anyone but us by ANY means necessary..."_

* * *

 **Author's Note: BTW, pls, pls, plsx50 tell me if there are any general errors, location errors, or grammatical errors. I hope that there wasn't anything too bad with the story. Also, there WILL be a Chapter 2, but again, I do not know when it will come out. Anyways, I'll talk to you all later!(or eventually... or hopefully... maybe).**


	2. Chapter 2

**(I'm not really much for keeping ya'll waiting for too long, so without further ado, here is the second chapter ;p)**

* * *

 _Po leaned in towards Viper as much as he could and hung on to her words like they were from a sacred religious text. His eyes were wide with eagerness as he tried to anticipate what the master would say next._

 _The mentioned figure briefly giggled at the panda's rather adorable, yet sincere expression of admiration before continuing._

 _"Have you had the chance to go to this year's Festival of Figurines yet? It was going on just outside the Valley of Peace four days ago."_

 _The Dragon Warrior was slightly taken aback._

 _He never even thought the possibility of "Master Viper" and "The Fest" would end up in the same sentence, but here she was acting as if it wasn't unusual for her to go to an annual geek-out convention._

 _"By the way, if you tell anyone, and I mean ANYONE, I will personally make sure to pull off your tongue with a pair of tweezers so you can never blab about it ever again, got it?"_

 _Okay, maybe Viper DID understand just what exactly she revealed to Po, who nodded vehemently in agreement._

 _He recovered enough courage to respond to Viper's original question and said,_

 _"Actually, no I haven't. Trying to take down a not-even-mortal enemy that has the power to turn my friends into jade zombies really takes a lot of energy out of me, so I'd rather make up for lost sleeping time, you know? Also... there's the fact that Shifu made me clean the entire training hall the day of the festival to keep me busy so that he could supposedly 'get some supplies for the palace' and conveniently return the minute the festival is scheduled to end."_

 _Viper rolled her eyes at Po's witty remark, but nevertheless explained to him the reason for bringing up her slightly-out-of-character topic._

 _"Well, if you WERE there, you'd have known that most people have been supporting the idea of you and Tigress being together for quite some time and I for one would like that to happen as well. That's why I go to 'The Fest' in the first place. Though it still embarrasses me to walk through the front entrance, it is so worth it to walk back out with a couple of romantic stories from firm believers fantasizing over you and Tigress as not just best friends, but fervent and passionate lovers."_

 _"Wait a sec, YOU read about THAT kind of stuff between me and Tigress?"_

 _At that, Viper blushed lightly as Po looked on with an uncomfortable expression after hearing yet another inapt and indirect confession. Viper quickly regained her composure and continued._

 _"Like I said, no-one can hear about this except for you and I, alright?"_

 _"Alright. Also, I'm glad you are alright with me hopefully being with Tigress, but how exactly does this help me with my way of making amends?"_

 _"I'm getting there. Before you knocked on my door, I was reading actually reading one of those fictions."_

 _Viper slithered over to the protruding scroll under her bed mat and handed it to Po. The panda was indeed curious about the contents inside as he walked in, and did not hesitate to peek inside._

 _Now, he wished hadn't as he saw the portion where she had paused, showing a painting of certain Dragon Warrior pinning a naked and smiling Tigress to his bed with his tongue sticking out suggestively and a lustful gleam in his eyes._

 _It was Po's turn to be embarrassed this time as he awkwardly handed the scroll back to Viper, who was secretly gauging his reaction._

 _She was glad of the results of her subtle test for she viewed Tigress as a sister to her and did not want her to have fallen in love with a morally corrupt and dirty pig, so to speak._

 _Po wanted nothing more than to disappear into the floorboards, but Viper's penetrating gaze locked him in place._

 _He was going to die of mortification before bandits or old age claimed him. Suddenly, she smiled warmly and stated,_

 _"You passed."_

 _"Huh?"_

 _"Nevermind. Here's how I think you should approach Tigress. Do you know the one thing she has been so selfishly denied from everyone ever since she was born?"_

 _At this, Po's shoulders slumped and he depressingly replied,_

 _"The title of Dragon Warrior... It's all my fault, isn't it? Tigress would've been better off without me. In fact, EVERYONE would be better off without me. Maybe I should resign from my position and-" *SMACK*_

 _Po's head turned sharply to the left with his vision swimming. As he refocused, he saw a shape he assumed to be Viper, but instead of her usual compassionate gaze, he saw instead a stern glare with restrained anger slowly ebbing out._

 _She was furious._

 _Viper had never ever seen the big, fluffy, optimistic panda sink so low to the point of truly doubting himself that she did the one thing she knew that would disrupt his negative train of thought. She slapped him hard on the cheekbone with her tail._

 _Po had a hurt expression on his face when he looked at her again, causing herself to feel a little guilty, but refused to show it._

 _"You really are a dim-witted fool Po and no, the title is not the answer I was looking for. Now you listen here Po and listen well. You've been nothing but a benefit ever since you became the Dragon Warrior. You defeated Tai-Lung, ruthless killer and master of the one-thousand scrolls, Shen, the unforgiving dictator with a powerful weapon of anti-Kung Fu, and now Kai, whom I'm sure the events haven't slipped your mind. Tigress needs you. I along with the rest of the five and Master Shifu need you. Please don't ever think like that again. I don't want the palace nor the Valley of Peace to revert back to what it was like before you came."_

 _At this point, Viper gently expressed remorse over the spot where Po was slapped and caressed it softly as if to indicate that she was sorry._

 _Po hesitatingly grinned at her and said,_

 _"You are right Viper. I'm sorry. I don't know where I'd be without you guys." Viper returned the smile and replied, "Speaking of which, we still need to work on your way of making amends with Tigress."_

 _"I still have no idea what Tigress has been missing her whole life..."_

 _"Isn't it obvious?"_

 _"If I knew, I think I would have tried my best to give it to Tigress the second I found it, don't you think?"_

 _"It's LOVE that Tigress needs. Not money. Not strength. Not wisdom. Not even the title of Dragon Warrior, though I admit she has been focused on that for most her life while the opportunity was still open."_

 _"Love?" Po repeated with a confused look on his face._

 _"I thought she knew that already. I mean, she's got us, right? I for one would like to think that we are all one big, happy family living together under an extremely expensive and priceless house."_

 _Viper face-palmed herself with her tail and dragged it down her face in a melodramatic show of exasperation before saying,_

 _"No, Po. Not THAT kind of love. I'm talking about the kind that you saw on that scroll."_

 _The Dragon Warrior flinched, then opened and closed his mouth as if he was struggling to find the right words. He eventually said with a great deal of reluctance,_

 _"Soooooooo, what you're saying is that you want me to apologize to Tigress by having se-"_

 _"N..NO! That's not what I meant at all! Geez!... It's way too soon for that anyways... Unless..."_

 _"Yeeaaaa, I'll just not. Though I'll admit, that's quite the... enticing idea."_

 _"Okay. Let's... try this again," Viper began while cooling herself off with her tail._

 _"All her life Tigress has been trying to make Shifu proud of her and for him to say 'I love you daughter', but after Tai-Lung, his best student and adopted son, went on that deadly rampage through the Valley of Peace and Jade Palace, something in him broke. He refused to show any emotion that wasn't professional towards her and caused her heart to solidify. Figuratively of course."_

 _Viper paused to wipe a small tear from her eye._

 _"Tigress still tried to make him proud and she knew that the only way was to do something Tai-Lung hadn't and surpass him. That's why Tigress had set her eyes on the Dragon Scroll in the first place. Now, after you came and somehow gave Master Shifu Inner Peace, she has that fatherly and family love she's always yearned for, but now she desires something different. And it's all because of you, Po."_

 _Po was listening intently as Viper spoke and asked with a resigned tone,_

 _"Okaaaaay, what did I butcher without realizing THIS time?"_

 _"It's not what you did, but what you DIDN'T do. That figurative heart of stone she's built since forever started to crumble the second you defeated Tai-Lung and proved yourself as worthy of being a master._ _Y_ _ou were friendly, when the rest of the five including myself were just polite towards her and we had already given up trying to be more than that a long time ago. You cared for her when she was ill or hurt, no matter how stubbornly she refused. You would always try to include her in our conversations at dinner. You cracked jokes and engaged in light-banter (that she never took part in), towards her as if you were friends since childhood. You, the one that stole what Tigress worked so hard on achieving, replaced it with so, so much more."_

 _"Do you understand where I'm getting at Po?" Viper inquired._

 _Po nodded slowly and lost in thought as if a decent idea was finally taking shape in his head._

 _"Thank you so much Viper. You're a great help. I'll take your advice and apologize to Tigress that way. Also...ummmm..."_

 _"What is is Po?"_

 _"You got any more of those romantic stories Viper? I need some inspiration. Don't worry, I don't think I'll go too far with the actual Tigress unless she wants me to."_

 _Viper giggled school-girlishly already thinking about what Po would possibly do to Tigress once he apologized, but pushed those thoughts out of her mind and went over to a corner of her room._

 _She discretely pried open a loose floorboard, as to not awaken anyone from their slumber, and grabbed a large handful of scrolls._

 _She gingerly handed them to Po and said,_

 _"These are not all the ones that I have, so feel free to come back for more if you want some more 'inspiration'."_

 _She winked at Po with a mischievous grin, leaving the poor panda to feel very flustered._

 _Po thanked Viper once again and tip-toed back to his room, safe from any more of her inappropriate quips. By some unknown force, he was fortunate enough to not make any of the floorboards squeak as he made his way down the hallway of the student barracks and into his room, in which he opened the door with his foot, went in, and closed it with exaggerated slowness._

 _Once inside, he let out a small sigh of relief._

 _He went to his bed and sat on it while placing the pile of scrolls on his lap._

 _He reached for the scroll that was on the top and began to read as he lit his own candle for the night._

 _Fifteen minutes later, he was done with half of them due to him just skimming over the words, but felt very unclean after reading just how detailed and intimate the scroll authors would portray him and Tigress together._

 _In fact, the blush forming on his face would gradually get more visible until he literally cringed and covered his eyes at one point as he transitioned from one scroll to the next._

 _If he had any innocence beforehand, he had undoubtedly lost it now._

 _Po quickly went through the movements of Inner Peace Mode to check if he still able to channel it and was surprised he could still pull off such a maneuver that required so much mental and physical balance._

 _Still feeling very dirty, Po decided to go outside to clear his head._

 _He had made up his mind._

 _He was going to approach Tigress as soon as possible, where she would hopefully not claw his face off._

 _Unfortunately, he wasn't able to keep up his flawless "Stealth Mode" this time around as when his foot landed on the floorboards once more and made an obnoxiously loud creaking noise._

 _He heard Crane sigh and state tiredly, "If you are going to get a mid-night snack Po, at least be swift about it. That noise makes me want to stab someone in the eye with my talons whenever I hear it for a long time..."_

 _Po quickly made his way out after that._

 _Po was heading to The Sacred Peach Tree of Wisdom hoping that the calm peach petals and the last living presence of Grandmaster Oogway, the creator of Kung Fu, would encourage him to keep his unholy thoughts of Tigress at bay._

 _As he walked up the stairs leading to it, his heart rate increased dramatically._

 _He thought Tigress would have been in the Training Hall trying to make up for lost time from her recovery, but there she was._

 _Just pacing quickly around the tree for a couple moments before coming to a sudden stop at the edge of the cliff with her claws unsheathed._

 _Po gulped as he took note of how just how sharp Tigress's claws were and the killer-gleam in her eye as she struggled to calm herself._

 _Great. Just his luck_ _._

 _He promised himself that he would try to reconcile with Tigress the first chance he got, and here she was, clearly very irritated, but at what Po did not know._

 _The panda considered going back to his room to try to pretend that he didn't see anything, but backing out of promises (even self-made ones) was not in the best of interests towards his reputation as Dragon Warrior and as a man with the qualities of a best friend._

 _Po breathed in, savoring the cool, crisp air assuming he probably wouldn't be able to smell for a while after Tigress would hypothetically punch his nose into his brain after hearing him approach her._

 _He started walking once more to the feline that strangely still hadn't noticed his presence. Perhaps she was so lost in her thoughts that she couldn't even focus on her outer surroundings._

 _A couple more steps and he was a suitable distance behind Tigress._

 _Po was extremely tempted to bail-out of the idea but his mouth spoke before his brain could react. "Uhmmm, Tigress?'" the panda spoke timidly. His mind went on full alert. "Oh, crap... Abort mission! Abort! Do you hear me?! ABORT!"_

*Present time at the Peach Tree*

Tigress's ears twitched when she heard her panda call her name. Wait a minute, HER panda? She questioned her sudden possessive feeling all the while replacing her look of anger into a more relaxed, stoic gaze.

Only then did she turn around to acknowledge Po.

"Yes, Dragon Warrior? How may I help?"

In her mind, she also wondered why she was acting so calm around the panda.

This was actually the first time after the incident that she didn't hurt him on sight or send a volley of insults his direction.

Perhaps a part of her knew that she wanted to apologize to Po, and also realized that aggression would not be too great of an approach in terms of asking for forgiveness.

Asking. For. Forgiveness.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Tigress never thought she would have had to reduce herself to such a level. Her being the leader of the Furious Five and Master Shifu's most prized student left her with no room for error and only to be a consistent role model to others, whether people were watching, or not.

As the two warriors stared at each other, Po started to feel extremely uncomfortable under Tigress's firm glare.

The ground suddenly seemed to have caught the undivided attention of the Dragon Warrior. He mentally berated himself for not having a decent plan other than to apologize to her.

The one he had thought of with Viper suddenly seemed useless, as he had hoped to meet Tigress in the kitchen, where he could at least have something to eat.

The panda racked his brain, trying to remember the events in the romance fictions that were similar to his current situation, but found none that suited his personality, quite literally.

All the scrolls he read conveyed that the Dragon Warrior was a muscular hero, with biceps of platinum, stunning looks that could make even the most stubborn of women that play 'hard-to-get' instantly swoon at his presence, and of course, he was an extremely articulate flirt to top it all off.

Po was the exact opposite of that unfortunately, so the scrolls that he received from Viper were next to nothing.

The Dragon Warrior sighed inwardly.

There was no way that Tigress saw him as a 'hit-with-the-ladies' kind of guy, so he did the next best thing. Be himself when talking to her.

Judging from past events as his normal self would often break things in the Hall of Warriors and annoy the living crap out of Tigress, he was screwed.

Screwed... Yup. That seven-letter word with millions of interpretations and just about defined the entirety of his dilemma. Oh well, no turning back now.

The nervous panda finally looked up and almost got absorbed into the mesmerizing depths of Tigress's questioning pupils before taking a sharp intake of breath.

If there was ever a time for a bodacious and suave Dragon Warrior to show up, now was the time.

"T- Tigress. I know we're both still thinking about what happened at the courtyard. I just wanted to say that you're my best friend, no matter what, so before I cause any more damage, I- I would like to say that I truly am sorry..."

* * *

 **Author's Note: More coming soon! Did you notice that Viper was actually reading fanfictions like us? Oh, the irony. So good. 'Course, fanfictions didn't exist at the time, so 'romance stories' was as close as I could get without messing up our timeline of epic 'innovations' if you will. I was also trying to include an easter egg of 'shipping TiPo' into the story, hence Viper mentioning a lot of people including herself having 'supported' Po being with Tigress. Also, I feel like this chapter was on the perfect edge between a T-rating and an M-rating. I'll still keep it T for the most part. Hopefully. Unless you guys genuinely want me to write these fanfics with a strong scent of lemon ;p. Anyways, I'll talk to you all later!  
** **P.S: Get your minds out of the gutter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**(Here it is! The Special Edition! A chapter which is about 1,600 words longer than my planned amount! Sorry I took so long... I'll just cut straight to the chase.)**

* * *

"...I truly am sorry..."

Tigress was surprised, to say the least.

She had not expected Po's sudden confrontation to be one of expressing remorse.

In fact, she steeled herself for a verbal lashing, imagining the Dragon Warrior to be offended by her extreme disregard of respect towards him during the past several weeks.

Tigress sighed inwardly while collecting her thoughts and still managed to maintain eye contact with the panda.

 _"I should have known better. Of course Po would try to take things upon himself. Why wouldn't he? He's the "overly-compassionate panda bear of the Valley of Peace". The accident at the courtyard was just that, an accident, yet I had taken it too far, like always. Curse my over-sized pride and dignity to blindside me at the worst possible time and mess up my friendship with that big, lovely, cuddly, adorable, kind-. *sigh* There's no way I'll be able to confess how much I love him. Not after everything I said and did to him. I just hope he'll be able to forgive me and still remain as my friend."_

Po, who was lightly trembling from fear of what the feline might do to him next now that he confessed his guilt, noticed her still giving him a blank stare as if beckoning him to go on.

Po assumed that this was the best possible window of opportunity he'd probably ever get, so he proceeded to extend his apology beyond just saying 'I'm sorry'.

He opened his mouth, but no words were coming out.

Darn.

He was experiencing an oral writer's block and grimaced at the awkwardness of his untimely dilemma.

All the Dragon Warrior had to do was just to continue their conversation, but found that his lips were refusing to cooperate with him.

Po was annoyed with himself for seeming so inarticulate in front of Tigress.

Even brawling against a seven-foot-tall water buffalo with three hundred pounds of pure muscle and a matching temper problem was easier than speaking to an unnaturally calm and composed tiger, and he spoke from experience.

"Uhhhhhhhh..." was all Po could utter with his jaw hanging downwards in quite a goofy manner.

The two masters looked at everywhere else but the other as the silence continued to drag on.

Po seemed to have suddenly gone mute while Tigress was wishing the ground would swallow her up in order to avoid the possibly, no, definitely most awkward conversation she has ever had in her life.

Tigress was unsheathing and sheathing her claws once again, trying to keep herself occupied.

She was glad that Po had come to her instead of vice-versa, but now she had nothing to say. Why was admitting what you did was wrong and uncalled for so difficult to do in the first place?

Eventually, both Po and Tigress couldn't stand to listen to the rustling of the peach petals and the shifting of each others' feet, so they simultaneously spoke.

"I just wanted to tell you that-"  
"Po, it's not you that should be sorry bu-"

Both warriors paused and blushed lightly, but Po managed to regain his gentlemanly nature and say, "Heh. Ladies first..."

He had a sheepish grin hoping Tigress would accept his offer as what he was going to say was by far an overused ice-breaker that would undoubtedly cause the feline to roll her eyes and halt the conversation right then and there.

Fortunately for him, Tigress did not notice his anxiety or if she did, she chose to pay no attention to it. Po was grateful either way. Tigress recomposed herself before speaking once more.

"As I was saying, I should be the one apologizing to you, not the other way around. My behavior and attitude these previous few weeks have been a shameful display towards the reputation of being a Kung Fu master, and for that I'm sorry. Please accept my most humble of apologies, Dragon Warrior."

Afterward, Tigress bowed towards Po fist-in-palm as low as she dared without falling forwards and with her ears flattened in submission. This truly was a rare sight for her to acknowledge anyone else other than Master Shifu.

Tigress wondered what would happen next.

Would Po accept her apology or even worse, would he shun her?

She bit her lower lip in order to prevent it from frowning slightly. For some unknown reason, she couldn't help but notice the feeling of light apprehension and giddiness that was slowly building in her stomach.

 _"I cherish him deeply. I know this now. Actually, I've realized this for quite some time. So this is what love feels like. I can't believe that I, Tigress, the emotionless warrior with only a lust for maintaining peace and justice within the valley, has fallen for a panda that destroyed the mental barriers that took all my for me to create in only the span of a couple years. Please, Po. I just want to forget all about what happened at the courtyard. Your companionship is not worth losing over just one mishap..."_

Just then, Tigress felt a pair of strong, yet fluffy black arms wrap around her waist and she was met with a faceful of white fur as the panda embraced her. All her senses were in overdrive as she failed to come up with a strong enough protest.

The feline's posture was as stiff as a board while her arms were rigid against her sides as they were pinned together.

Eventually, Tigress finally went back to reality and relaxed into the hug, only purring loudly enough for herself to hear and leave the panda oblivious to her sounds of content.

Po questioned the vibrations that were softly bouncing on his chest but disregarded it as his nerves.

The panda was joyous that he was able to expose the softer side of the hardcore feline without too much of a struggle.

When he had hugged her he hadn't expected her to receive it so quickly.

He could have sworn he detected a small tinge of eagerness from the tiger master even though she didn't go as far as to return the embrace.

Tigress was in pure bliss. She was wrapped in the arms of the one she loved so dearly under a peach tree in the middle of the night with no interruptions whatsoever. It was like a dream come true for her, and she eventually lifted her head from his chest fur and gazed up into Po's jade-green eyes.

The look the Dragon Warrior was giving her was sending electric sensations through her spine, causing the feline to visibly shudder.

Po himself was in his own dimension of thoughts.

This was only the third time he hugged Tigress, yet it was completely different from the previous two. The first one was from her expressing sympathy towards him and the second was out of happiness and being in the heat of the moment.

This time, Po felt something different.

Was it compassion? Or was there something else behind the embrace, like (dare he say it) love? When Tigress's fiery crimson-red eyes met his, he thought he felt his insides melt.

He didn't want to ever move from his position and was gleeful that the feline had a similar mindset.

They both stayed that way for a while, both enjoying the finally comfortable silence in the cool night until Po eventually spoke once again.

"Tigress?"

"Yes, Dragon Warrior?"

She had her eyes closed as she snuggled further into the panda's embrace.

Po tightened his grip on her causing her purring to now become audible and he chuckled a little before saying,

"Please. Remember you're talking to Po Ping, the noodle chef and your best friend, not Po Ping, the Dragon Warrior. Also, I forgive you; losing our friendship wasn't worth it over a dumb mistake on my part. But there's still one thing that I need to know... Can you find it in your heart to forgive me? For everything? From my bad-eating habits, to the obnoxious snores that I emit whenever I sleep, to what happened at the courtyard?"

Tigress separated herself from Po and instead put both paws on his shoulders.

She allowed herself to become enraptured in his clear, sparkling gaze for a second before continuing.

"I thought you'd have guessed the answer already Po. I forgave you a long time ago,"

Tigress's eyes were shining beautifully and a minuscule tear was barely noticeable on her face. "You idiot. I've been forgiving all those annoying habits you have had since I realized how much you mean to me as a friend."

Po was harboring his trademark signature grin as he listened to Tigress ramble on about how much he had changed her, the rest of the Furious Five, and the entire Valley of Peace for the better.

 _"Thanks, Viper. I guess you were right all along. You guys DO care... It means so much to me that you genuinely do. I'll be sure to thank you in the morning when all this is taken care of."_

Tigress paused mid-sentence when she noticed Po with an "egging on" expression on his face along with a knowing smile.

She moved her paws away from his shoulders in order to build enough momentum to slug him on the side of his arm, causing his expression to fall.

She was mischievously smirking when he rubbed the sore area while mustering as much of a glare as he could form towards the targeted feline.

"One: Owwieee. And two: What was THAT for?"

"That was just a preemptive strike before you would laugh at me while I poured my heart and soul into the last couple of sentences that I just spoke."

"You don't know whether or not I would have laughed... Prove it."

"The look on your face says it all. I know because you pull that same expression when you think you've successfully avoided being blamed for eating all of Monkey's almond cookies and blamed it all on someone else."

The Dragon Warrior's smug face was immediately replaced with something more desperate and pleading. He went down on his knees and clasped his paws together, wringing them, and assumed his iconic begging position.

His pupils had dilated slightly, making him look like an overgrown cub that had just been scolded by his teacher. The panda knew that there was no way out of this.

"Please, please, please don't tell him! Last time I did it, Monkey threatened to make whoever was guilty to become the next victim for his consecutive atomic wedgies whenever he found out! I don't want to keep having to replace my underwear for the next week!"

Tigress was enjoying herself.

She would take pleasure whenever anyone, especially Po, would act meek and acquiescent towards her whenever she held a dangerous piece of blackmail over their heads.

Is her inner personality that of a sadist?

Why, yes. Yes it is.

The feline gave up trying to suppress her urges a long time ago, for it was natural for her kind to feel the need to express dominance and control.

Tigress suddenly averted her gaze away from him guiltily.

She usually liked Po's submissive attitude, even though it was only for a temporary moment, but her conscience pricked at her heart.

She wanted to treat Po as an equal, not as someone beneath her.

If anything, it should be HER that should respect the Dragon Warrior, not the opposite.

She loved the panda for his humble, yet determined and courageous nature. He was always willing to put his friend's needs before his, and never complained about not getting credit even when it was due.

There it was again. That emotion.

The one that made her want to pounce upon the panda before her and have her way with him as he moaned in ecstasy. Her intense feeling of passion was rising up from deep within her core like a volcanic eruption.

Po's current state of helplessness was not aiding in blocking out the rest of Tigress's darkest fantasies towards the Dragon Warrior.

The feline was once again internally struggling whether or not she should confess her feelings towards Po.

But HOW though?

Everything had once again come to a full circle back to the simple question with a seemingly impossible answer. Tigress glanced back at Po, who was sulkily avoiding her gaze as he braced for what was to come.

 _"Will she tell Monkey? No. She wouldn't. At least, I don't think so... Or is she planning something worse for me in order to convince her to hold her tongue steady. Oh no! She's gonna beat me up NOW so that Monkey won't have to do it later! Or worse, what if Tigress plans on telling Master Shifu? Arghhh! I'll be forced to endure his tough training for however long he wants! Maybe he won't even let me have snack breaks anymore! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

"Po, stand up and look at me. Please."

Po, obviously feeling very confused, obliged to the feline master's wishes and awaited for whatever was to come.

As he lifted his eyes to meet hers, he saw something unrecognizable in her stare. She seemed to have a conflict within herself for a reason Po knew nothing about.

Po also saw an intense need and adoration in her pupils, with a luster so bright, they might even have put the moon's magnificent glow to shame.

Tigress couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to once again snuggle underneath the Dragon Warrior's strong, yet fluffy arms and wished to do nothing more than to spend the night with him. In bed, preferably.

Tigress reprimanded herself inside her head and once again shoved her fantasies into a more subtle part of her mind.

She thought of all the memorable moments Po had created with her and the rest of the Valley of Peace. She remembered how he landed in a ball of fire right in front of her before being picked as the "Dragon Warrior" by Grandmaster Oogway.

She frowned at her earlier reaction towards him at first, then barely showed a ghost of a smile when she realized just how far she and the panda had come since that day.

Not only that, but Po had given the residents of the Jade Palace a new way of living.

Before the panda's arrival, the five would isolate themselves with days of rigorous training, with Master Shifu constantly berating them when not performing up to perfection.

They had previously just considered themselves as tools, existing only to serve and protect the Valley of Peace, and to be thrown away when proven useless.

They would hardly speak to the Jade Palace servants and basically lived in seclusion on top of the mountain for most of their lives.

It all changed after Po showed up. He had already begun to lighten the mood upon his arrival with his childish antics and playful nature, but he had truly changed them after the defeat of Tai-Lung. Little by little, he got them to open themselves up to his warmth and compassion until eventually, they were like a family.

An extremely diverse, mildly awkward family, but a family nevertheless.

After Po came, The Furious Five would show up around the village more often, even if it was just for errands. It took a while for the citizens to grow accustomed to them, for they considered the masters as "gods" who mostly stayed away from people lower than them.

Master Shifu would occasionally praise the five during training and had less of a harsh remark when judging them.

He actually seemed to be trying to do his best to offer constructive criticism and would relax more outside of training. He even went as far as to eat dinner with them a couple days of the week.

Tigress HAD to make her move. She had been waiting for too long anyways to find the right time to tell Po of her love for him.

No matter how many times Tigress tried to confess to her panda, she found that she couldn't. She was always held back by her doubts.

 _"What if this makes me look weak?"_

 _"Will this change anything between us?"_

 _"How will he react?"_

But only one thought was the main reason for her reluctance.

 _"What if he doesn't return my feelings, and only sees me as a friend?"_

Tigress shook her uncertainties from her mind. She instead forced herself to harbor a steely gaze of flint as Po looked on with a slightly puzzled expression.

 _"She sure seems to be struggling with something rather important. Maybe I'd better talk to her about it. Nevermind, she'll assume that I'm just trying to sweet-talk my way out of my almond cookie problem. Maybe another hug? Nahhh... My most recent one was plenty risky enough as it already was. Ooh! I know what to do! I should totally jus-"_

"Po."

Tigress's voice was firm as iron and she forced herself to stop trembling like a frightened cub.

She had almost lost Po twice now. Her panda had almost been taken by two females that Tigress remembered.

She hated to think of the actual number of "passionate fans" Po had in his everyday life.

She was glad that the snow leopard Song, leader of the Ladies of the Shade, had probably been too busy to visit the Jade Palace and that Lu-Shi, the goat and Po's almost-wife, had found another male in her life.

Tigress thought that she would have been foolish to let yet another star-struck lover set her eyes on Po again.

Tigress had a very determined look on her face as she once more regarded the panda in front of her.

 _"The time is now. I can't bear to wait any longer. I HAVE to tell Po. It doesn't even feel like an option anymore. It is now an obligation. I need to know what he thinks about me. Whether it be good or bad, I can accept it. I've had plenty worse injuries in the past if she rejects me... Who am I kidding... Whoever's out there and above me that's watching right now, PLEASE I beg you to let Po have the same feelings for me."_

Po was slowly backing off to the peach tree very slowly as he visibly shrunk under the feline's intense glare.

He gave a sheepish smile and tried his best not to let his voice crack in fear.

"Uhhhhhh, Tigress? Whatever's going through your mind right now, can we please talk about it? Besides, it's not good to bottle up your emotions for so long...right? I mean you can tell me if you want to...or not. It's your choice really, there's no rush- Oomph!"

Tigress had placed her paws this time on Po's elbows and inched as close as she could in order to pin him to the tree trunk behind him.

Tigress smirked briefly as she saw just how flustered the Dragon Warrior had become.

She saw a single drop of sweat roll down his neck and into his chest fur. The same fluffy fur that she had placed her head upon and hid an interior of strong, firm, muscles.

The feline fought the urge to purr in delight.

Po was blushing madly all the while.

He thought his friend's sudden mood shift was quite irregular, and inwardly panicked when her pupils turned into narrow slits as he felt a bead of sweat roll down his neck.

Tigress seemed to notice, but thankfully still had her eyes locked on Po's.

The panda was held captive by her beauty.

From her perfectly symmetrical stripes on her forehead to the eyes that had now widened back to normal proportion.

It wasn't until he realized that he was staring like a subtle pervert that he tried to look anywhere else but at the tiger in his compromising position beneath the Sacred Peach Tree.

Tigress found herself getting lost in Po's features as she held him there. She shook her head lightly. _"There'll be plenty of time for that later... Here it is...The moment of truth..."_

Po saw Tigress inhale deeply and let it out slowly.

The feline's warm breath had traveled through his body, and he shuddered involuntarily.

"Po..." The tiger had the same unrecognizable expression as before across her face, but Po was surprised to hear how husky and attractive Tigress's voice had turned.

He gulped when he anticipated what Tigress would say or do next.

Although he should have been feeling slightly petrified, he couldn't help but also have a slight hint of arousal in the turmoil of emotions he had experienced within the last couple of minutes.

Of course, he was a panda raised with good morals, so he shamefully tried to focus on his predicament, instead of on the closeness of Tigress's-

No. He didn't even want to go there. His two dads, Li-Shan the panda, and Mr. Ping would castrate and/or kill him if Master Shifu didn't get to him first.

Po perked up when he heard her speak again, hoping she had come up with a compromise that was rather sympathetic to his situation.

Instead, what she did next almost made all his blood vessels spontaneously burst.

"I have many propositions for you to work off this newfound debt that you now owe me in return for keeping silent," the feline began with clear seduction reverberating throughout her voice, "but there is ONE idea that comes on top of all of them, and it refuses to be suppressed for it has been that way for far too long. Instead, I now to choose to embrace it..."

Tigress then proceeded to get even closer, (if it was even possible), to the discombobulated Dragon Warrior, and forcibly pressed her lips into his.

The poor panda(once again), was trying hard not to faint as his legs had seemingly turned into jelly, and his arms were still being held by the tiger.

Po eventually sank into the kiss, realizing that resistance was futile, and savored the moment with his eyes closed.

The feline was pleased to find out that the panda didn't want to separate their connection, even when she noticeably loosened her grip on his arms, but still had him trapped between her and the tree.

She had done it. The Huntress had finally captured her prey.

She had completed what she had wanted to do for so long, but in a way, it still felt wrong.

She had forced him into the intimate embrace, even though he willingly accepted it in the end.

With great reluctance, after a pleasant minute of kissing and swapping saliva, Tigress finally separated her lips from his and released his elbows, allowing him to move freely once again.

After that, the feline began to feel slightly embarrassed from the sheer desperateness of her actions and a blush was plainly visible even when her orange fur covered most of it.

She nervously looked at the panda who was stilled stunned from the kiss and broke his trance by speaking.

"I- I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. It's just that- I want to be more than best-friends with you. You are the only person who has ever made me feel this way. I've been feeling like this ever since you got shot by Shen's cannon... I then realized just how much you mean to me, and I don't know what I would do without you. I... adore you everything about you completely... and I guess...What I'm trying to say is that-"

"I love you too, Stripes."

Tigress trailed off after Po said those five words that meant everything to her and he then gave her a look filled with loving passion and endless want.

She inwardly squealed with giddiness when she heard that nickname and saw him attempt to discreetly check out her body.

Normally, she would have left the man that was dumb enough to gauge and measure her as if she were an exquisite item just laying there on the aisle of the shop bruised and with slightly less manliness, but this was different.

She was joyous that the panda she loved so much had held her to such regard, seeing her as attractive even though she wore no make-up, unlike Viper.

She had always had doubts about her femininity, but seeing the way Po looked at her caused her to push all those thoughts away for good.

The Dragon Warrior was still sane enough to comprehend what had just occurred.

THE Master Tigress had just full-on kissed him on the lips.

He had a goofy, content smile plastered on his face as the feline looked on with an amused expression. Eventually, He regained enough of his composure to speak.

"So... I guess this means that you won't tell Monkey?"

"What?! That's ALL you thought that kiss was about?... I- I thought that you actually..."

Tigress had a hurt expression on her face. She knew it. It was too good to be true.

But why?

Why did the panda have to toy with her emotions like that? Couldn't he have just said no?

Her vision started to get blurry as she felt tears accumulate in her eyes. She scolded herself for letting her emotions get to her for the first time in forever.

 _"Of course he never liked was just using me as a gullible leverage the whole time. I thought I could handle it... Being rejected. I'm such a fool. Emotional pain exists on so many different levels than on physical pain. Why did I even decide to like that panda..."_

 _"This is why I sealed my heart in the first place. So that I wouldn't have to endure something like this."_

Tigress was once again facing an inner adversity, but this time, she had given up.

The tiger master had no idea what to do next.

Po stepped back in surprise at the reaction of his feline friend. Once again, he screwed something up unintentionally.

"NO! That's not what I meant to say! Tigress please! Hear me out!..."

* * *

 **Author's note: Awwwww crap!... What's gonna happen next? Even I don't know. I've mostly been typing this on auto-pilot. Probably something that I shouldn't admit. Also, I really have no excuse for being this late. At least I was able to get this chapter out before my procrastination skills surprise even myself! :D Just know that no matter what, I'll never leave you guys hanging(at least, not for too long). Unless I die or something like that, then I'll have no choice but to end this story mid-sentence! MID-SENTENCE OF ALL THINGS! For real though, it pains me so much when KFP fanfics just end mid-chapter and you see that the author hasn't updated in like, a million years. Especially good ones like 'The Last Farewell Ride'. This isn't a promotion either btw. Anyways, I'm done ranting, so I'll talk to you all lat- *ends mid-sentence***


	4. Chapter 4

**(Finally! The concluding chapter! To the people that took the time to follow, favorite, and/or review this story, you're the real MVP. :D Seriously, it really motivates me, even though that sounds a little bit too much of a cliche. And now, I hope you enjoy the final installment of "The Apology".)**

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"NO! That's not what I meant to say! Tigress please! Hear me out! I DO actually have feelings for you. Like you, I've had them for quite some time now. Ever since the Furious Five were first revealed by Master Oogway, I've had a crush on you!"

"You're just saying that! There's no way a person like you could actually like someone like me! A lie can only travel through a gullible person's ears to a certain extent Po!"

"It's true! All of it! I swear! Come on Tigress! Be reasonable!"

But Tigress wouldn't have any of it.

At this point, tears were running freely down the side of her face as she prepared to storm pass him. She was mid-stride past the panda until a strong paw stopped her from going any further.

"Don't try and stop me Po!"

"I'm sorry," Po said with an eerie calm in his voice, which professionally concealed the sense of sorrow that was slowly building up in his stomach,

"but I can't stand to watch you in pain-"

"Then get your filthy paws off me and leave me alone!"

Tigress was gradually becoming hysterical. She forcibly removed Po's paw with excessive force, but was then subsequently caught in a bear hug from behind as Po wrapped his arms around her tightly.

The Dragon Warrior was unsurprisingly, much stronger than her. Try as she might, she couldn't escape as she didn't have much space to work with in the first place. She would have enjoyed it, but the current reason behind it did not give her the luxury to.

"LET GO OF ME PANDA!"

"I will when you calm down and actually listen to m-"

"NEVER! I HATE YOU!"

Po flinched at her words but was firm in his resolve. He refused to loosen his grip on the tiger.

After a while of intense struggling and labored breathing, followed by an offensive syntax of curses and insults, he finally felt Tigress relax into a less aggressive state.

He eased up slightly, in order to let the blood circulate through her arms again, but was taken aback by surprise as she gave one final backwards kick to his shin and managed to free herself from his grasp.

The feline was momentarily free but then had the air forced out of her lungs as she lay on her back on the ground with Po above her.

The peach petals that were once resting idly beneath them have suddenly blown away from the swiftness of Po's reaction time.

Po was unfazed by her actions, as he had already anticipated what she had planned on doing. He had seen it all before during the "escape training" Shifu had them do a couple weeks ago.

Of course, Po being Po, he failed that those lessons, but still paid close attention to the feline. At least he had a decent reason for ogling her during the time.

Back to the point, when he saw the tiger break away and make a run for it, he quickly swept one of his massive feet under her and while she was down, he took advantage and straddled her with his arms pinning hers above her head.

The Dragon Warrior was impressed by the determination of the tiger below him as she still persevered to free herself. Tigress tried in vain to throw the panda off her, but her previous struggles had taken their toll on her, wearing her down greatly.

It was pitiful, but Tigress even tried to nip at Po's wrists in the hope that he would back off of her, but she was positioned in such a way that she couldn't reach them.

Po continued to watch her, patiently waiting for her to cede and admit defeat.

It took quite some time, but Tigress finally accepted her predicament and truly relaxed this time under the panda's grip. He cautiously eased his grip on her, then settled into something more comfortable as the feline was too tired to try to break free.

Though she was restrained, Tigress could still glare at Po with hate and contempt in her eyes. She wasted no time in delivering her usual look of anger.

"Well, _Dragon Warrior..._ " the feline questioned with as much sarcasm as she could muster into his title,

"What happens now? Are you going to tell me how sorry you are again? Or better yet, are you going to continue to tell me just how MUCH you actually love me? Well save it! I don't care about you or your stupid feelings nor do I-MMMMMPH?!"

While Tigress was ranting, Po watched her with earnest. " _You're right,"_ he thought,

 _"I won't TELL you how much I love you. Clearly, that approach is not the right way to go about things. You always did seem like the type of kitty that would play hard-to-get... Anyways, I'll just SHOW you just how much you mean to me..."_

Tired of listening to Tigress go on-and-on about him and his supposed flaws, he quickly smashed his lips into hers, but this time the kiss was far more passionate than the previous one.

The feline was too stunned to try to bite his lips or even move her head away from his.

She had never once considered the fact that the panda even HAD the audacity to attempt something like this.

To HER even, of all people, the person who was most likely to eviscerate him in his sleep if he was able to aggravate her to a certain point. She felt the emotion of want rising once more in her stomach.

She tried to fight it off, but her body wasn't coordinated with her mind as she had physically bucked her hips, trying to get closer to Po than they already were.

 _"Stupid, stubborn, panda. Always making me seem like a hypocrite...Mmmmmm...I love you so much..."_

Tigress purred into the kiss, causing Po to lowly growl in satisfaction. His tongue began to prod for entry, and the feline happily consented to his demands. Tigress had altogether melted like butter at the panda's sudden surprisingly dominant behavior.

They stayed that way for what had seemed like an eternity until Po broke off in order to refill his lungs with much-needed air.

Both the Dragon Warrior and Master of Tiger Style were laying there, one obviously having more control over the other, panting tiredly from the kiss, but they had enjoyed it nevertheless.

Po was glad everything had worked out so accordingly to what his mind had planned. The panda looked into the eyes of his captive, only to find her staring back lovingly, then closing them as she lay her head back and let out a soft, adorable mew of content.

Po mentally gave himself a pat on the back as he came to terms to what he had just accomplished.

He knew there would have been many flaws in his plan.

No surprise there.

Tigress could have easily thrown him off when he leaned down to kiss her due to the undistributed weight, or she could have headbutted him painfully on the bridge of his nose while he was retracting back away from her.

Yet he had managed to pull everything together with the suavity and bodaciousness he had so desperately yearned for earlier.

In fact, when he pulled Tigress into the kiss, he thought that he had perfectly nailed the prerequisites required in order for that moment to be able to become a successful story for a crazed author that wrote fantasies of the pair.

He inwardly laughed at the thought of paparazzi authors arriving at the Jade Palace steps demanding for details of when and where their wedding would take place.

"Well, Stripes? Do you believe me now? Or do I need to convince you some more, hmm? And, just to get it out there, I'm...totally fine with either option."

Tigress had stopped purring long enough to concentrate on the Dragon Warrior on top of her. She licked her lips happily, trying to enjoy as much of the remains of the kiss as possible, though they had already parted.

 _"Mmmmm... He's perfect. The total package even. He's strong, compassionate, generous, a great chef, a comedian, a teacher, and now, to top it all off, he is also an amazing kisser."_

"Tigress? Tiigreeess? Hellooooo? Anyone in there? You okay?"

Tigress came out of her trance-like state when she saw the panda wave a single paw in front of her face. She blinked in surprise. Nobody had ever caused her thoughts to trail off as much as they had just did.

Tigress leaned upwards to nuzzle the paw that was hovering above her and purred affectionately.

"I've never been better, Dragon Warrior." This time, she held no venom in her words.

The moon was shining brightly now, as the clouds mentioned beforehand had receded away from its brilliant hue. Even the atmosphere seemed to be enjoying this tender moment shared by the two lovers.

Po was giddy with happiness at this point.

Never had he thought he would have heard Tigress purr AND have her say she loved him all in the same night. Add the fact that when he moved his paws away from hers, and she didn't take advantage of his temporary weakness, Po could have been the luckiest person alive just then.

His paws were on her wrists again once he realized he had let go of them unintentionally, but the feline wasn't resisting as much as she could have. In fact, she seemed to like Po's aggressiveness.

 _"I'll... keep that in mind for later. Tigress... you really are quite the catch aren't you?"_

Po looked into the eyes of the one he had loved for so long, to find her looking back quizzingly back. There was no glare, no indignities of her submissive and restrained setting, not even a 'Get off of me you testosterone-filled psycho panda!'.

There was genuine love in her pupils, and Po was pleased that when he leaned down to rub noses with her, she returned his affection eagerly.

They stayed that way for a while. With Tigress underneath the panda whose body and natural fluff was acting like as a blanket, providing her with warmth and shielding her from the occasional cool breeze that would blow through the night.

Just like the hug they shared, the quiet that followed was actually rather enjoyable as they were both pondering and lost in their own adoring thoughts of each other.

Eventually, Tigress had to break the silence. She had a question on the tip of her tongue that she had just remembered.

"Why me?"

Po was baffled. "What do you mean by 'why me'?"

"It's just that, out of all the women you could have chosen, you decided to pick me. Me, the one that doesn't deserve you the most. I never said that I'm the perfect person, and I likely never will be. Again, why me?"

The panda chuckled lightly before responding. Here she was, the stoic master and role-model representing the Valley of Peace, was actually doubting herself. Quite a rare sight.

"You should give yourself more credit Kitten... True, I could choose anyone that I want, but that's just because I'm the Dragon Warrior. I want YOU because you're the one who can see past my reputation and title and knows me for whom I really am in the inside. Master Shifu and the others can see that to, but I feel as if I can unwind and actually relax when I'm around you. Even while we're training, though that's slightly ironic."

The feline harbored a light blush when she heard Po say those words.

 _"Gods, he really does know how to get through to me so easily...It's almost frightening."_

Po, noticing Tigress's flustered look and instantly had a mischievous plan forming in his head. His signature grin was once again back on his face.

 _"Oh, so you like being flattered like that do you? There's going to be plenty more where that came from Stripes."_

Po moved both paws away from her wrists to do something sly. The tiger was free to have movement again but thankfully didn't feel like pushing him off. Or killing him, for that matter.

The crafty panda slowly brought one of his dull claws to the feline's stomach, out of her sight. Tigress, confused to why he had released her, was completely oblivious to his cunning plan.

"Furthermore, my kitten, to add to the list of things that I love about you, you're very strong..." Unleashing his devious plan, Po grazed his dancing fingers on her stomach and proceed to tickle her into the next dynasty.

Tigress realized what he was going to do next, but before she could fight him off, it was already too late for her. She was already at the point of no return.

"Please don't-HOHHHOHOOOHOOHHO-do this-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-to me-HEHEHHEHEHEHE!"

But the fearsome Dragon Warrior was merciless in his punishment and refused to abide by the tiger master's wishes.

The panda was a sadist as well as Tigress, but in his own unique way. He continued to torture her with his fingers. He truly was a force to be reckoned with.

"and beautiful..." When Po wasn't keeping up the pace of his love assault, he was speeding up. "and brave..."

The poor Tigress could do nothing but laugh freely as her torturer would alternate between the tickle-prone spots on her body with every compliment he delivered.

"and dedicated... and good at Kung Fu, hence your title... and a brilliant strategist... and a great companion in battle... and my crush since forever... and now, you're also horribly ticklish in an amazingly-awesome way!"

Luckily, the Dragon Warrior took pity upon the helpless feline and finally stopped his relentless attack after seeing her tired gasps of breath on her expanding and deflating torso. He checked out her ruffled fur, her slightly dirty clothes, the bloodshot look in her eye, and the sweat that was accumulating on herself.

Basically, to put it in simple terms, Po thought that the tiger below him was a hot mess.

The feline's underarms, feet, toes, stomach, ribs, and sides were all sore from Po's new deadly technique as she lay there, too exhausted to move and with tears of happiness threatening to escape her eyelids.

"Do you understand the point that I'm trying to get across Tigress? You have no need to question anything about yourself. You may not see it, but I do. In my eyes, you are flawless, and anyone who thinks otherwise will have to deal with me first."

Tigress looked up at the panda that had won her heart over in so little time. He had gotten up off of her and had extended a hand towards her. The smile he possessed currently was all too familiar. It was the same one that had irritated her so much when he had first arrived, but had eventually become endearing to her.

The feline took the paw that was outstretched and pulled herself up with it. Even when she has balanced on her two legs again, she still did not let go. She even grabbed the paw with both of hers, adding to the panda's joy as he did the same.

They both stood there, lost in each other's eyes as the moon above them continued to shine brightly and the peach petals had started to fall slowly from the tree above at a fitting pace.

It was Po this time that reinitiated the conversation.

"Soooo... Do you want to try this again Tigress? I promise I won't make too much of a fool outta myself again." He winked while letting one of his paws make its way to te feline's cheek and caress it softly.

"Most certainly, Po... Take as long as you need..."

The mentioned tiger had rested the side of her head against the palm of the one she loved dearly and softly purred gratefully on it.

It was peacefully quiet once more as the panda slowly brought Tigress into a warm embrace. This time, she was ready and had her arms spread wide as the panda wrapped his arms around her with the latter doing the same as he nuzzled the side of her neck, savoring her scent.

He then pulled away from Tigress, still embracing her, but enough to be able to look her square in the eye.

"Alright then... Tigress... I know that you know this already, but I can't ever and will not ever stop saying this..."

The feline's tail was swishing from side to side as she anticipated Po's words. She, herself, was slightly trembling as she thought of just how important this moment would be for the two of them.

The Dragon Warrior, and her best-friend, was about to once again say the words she had at first wanted Master Shifu to say for so long, but then slowly, her thoughts had changed from a red panda to a giant panda.

There was a dramatic pause as the mentioned panda quietly took a large breath in before continuing.

He was anxious, but he quickly set that emotion off to the side as he gazed into the eyes of the tiger that he had admired so much for forever, and replaced the empty space with adoration.

Everything was still, except for the peach petals that had still fallen down slowly, contributing to the overall mood of the moment. The panda opened his mouth to speak.

His eyes were sparkling playfully, yet lovingly as he said the three words that meant so much to her.

Those simple three words that had an entire world of meanings and interpretations, but they were all similar in one way:

They all expressed pure, genuine affection.

"I love you..."

The Dragon Warrior was tapping his toe on the ground nervously afterward. How would the tiger master react towards such a direct and bold delivery? Did she believe him this time? He had tried to pour as much conviction and devotion as he could muster into his voice when he was speaking.

Thankfully, Tigress had fully believed him.

She knew that what he had just said was as true as he could possibly express. She looked into his jade-green eyes to see that the words had indeed come from the bottom of his heart.

A strong feeling of lust traveled all throughout her body as she had finally achieved what she had wanted for so long. Getting the panda's affections to be directed towards her and her only.

Not Song. Not Lu-Shi. Not any of the mentally unbalanced fan-girls that would faint at his presence. A purr rose from her throat as she looked at the one that had just confessed his love for her once again.

She wanted him badly. So badly that all she could do was stare fondly at him hoping that the words that were hesitant to come out of her mouth would instead reveal themselves on her face.

Po stood still, patiently waiting for whatever Tigress would say next. He had done his part of the "reenactment". Now it was her turn.

Silence... Not only was there way too much of that tonight, but that was not what Po had been expecting to hear after their redo. The panda sheepishly glanced upward only to find Tigress with that one look in her eye.

He shivered nervously from the attentiveness of the stare/glare. Curiously enough, he had seen it three consecutive times and all in the same night.

The Dragon Warrior was feeling slightly awkward as the gap in their conversation became larger and larger, with the feline seemingly in an awake coma, and her thoughts far away from their current situation.

Just then, a loud purr could be heard from her throat before the tiger master tackled him roughly to the ground, with her arms pinning his to his sides this time.

Po, caught by surprise, could only give a small yelp of alarm before his lips were caught in the warm ones of his lover.

 _"How does it feel to have our roles reversed? You certainly seem to be enjoying this more than me compared to last time..."_ Tigress thought appreciatively. She smiled into the kiss when she heard the panda moan in pleasure as she forcibly parted his lips and stuck her tongue in, growling assertively all the while.

They both stayed that way for the longest intimate embrace the two had ever shared together. Nothing could have separated them at this point. All except for, of course, anatomy.

The huge gasps for air that followed afterward were synchronous and were so worth all the lost oxygen.

No words were shared, but the way the pair had looked at each other was enough to fill an entire scroll with their emotions. Tigress would wake up the morning after with her memory fuzzy from sleep, but one thought would never fade from her mind, no matter the situation.

She would never forget herself saying, "I love you too, my panda..." before falling asleep peacefully on his stomach.

Things were finally reverting back to normal if it wasn't better that night. The two warriors had made up, and to top it all off, made out with each other shortly afterward. Both were content to be in each other's arms again, simply just enjoying what the rest of the night had left to offer.

Eventually, the allure of sleep would overcome the two warriors, Tigress being first, but the Dragon Warrior was still as affected. Though he had fallen asleep shortly after, he had obtained the satisfaction of being the last one awake enough to gaze lovingly at his partner, and give her a light peck her on her forehead, eliciting a purr from her.

As the two lovers slept on, the wind had picked up and a lone peach petal was pried off its branch, drifting off towards the clouds in the distance and further on.

As the peach petal traveled throughout the sky, a silhouette of Grandmaster Oogway could be seen, standing gracefully atop an adjacent cloud, smiling at the Dragon Warrior and Tiger Master below him. Another gust of wind would lead to him mysteriously vanishing off into the distance, though not before chuckling softly to himself.

That night was definitely one to remember. From the ambiance of the atmosphere to the beginning and end of the pair's conversation. It would still be a couple more hours until the rest Jade Palace residents would wake up to find them, so they'd be left undisturbed for quite some time.

The dynamic duo would also have lots of explaining (emphasis on lots), to do to Master Shifu before they would be trusted to maintain their relationship and be able to announce it to the Valley of Peace. Not only that, but there would probably be plenty of impediments just waiting for the two of them to encounter during their relationship, but at least they always had each other for comfort and companionship now.

Speaking of which, both of them would have to endure a multitude of questions asked by Master Shifu and the others, and Viper with her "I-totally-knew-it" look with a mischievous gleam in her eye for the next month, but everything would happen all in its due time. No more, no less.

For now though, everything was...perfect.

 _The End_

* * *

 **Author's note: Kudos to me for finishing my first story! *silence accompanied by the chirping of crickets* Again, me being a perfection-ist, I'll still constantly revise and edit this story. Speaking of which, you might wanna re-read the end of chapter 2, since I slightly modified that part in order for this chapter to reflect more smoothly upon it. Nothing too major though. Also, I'd like to say that I'm glad to all those who supported me- *checks top of chapter*- nevermind then! Said it already, moving on! (Seriously though, thanks:D) Before I go, I just want you guys to know that this was actually supposed to be a one-shot, but my mind got the better of me. Hah! This actually turned out to be 3 chapters too long! After this, I've got a couple fanfic ideas for KFP after this, so you won't get rid of me that easily ;p. Okay, I'm probably talking waaaay too much, so, goodbye for now!**

 **P.S: If you made it ALL the way down here while taking in every word of my boring A.N , then I nominate you as MVP as well!**


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